Undead
An Undead unit is a unit that has been killed and reanimated by certain magic spells or powers. The resulting unit is now considered a Fantastic Unit of the realm. It receives all of the special bonuses and Unit Abilities that all other Death units possess, but is now also subjected to the same weaknesses - particularly the inability to heal normally, nor to gain Experience. Only Normal Units and Fantastic Units can be reanimated as Undead, and the process is not reversible in any way. Granted Abilities Modified Upkeep Costs A Normal Unit turned Undead will have its Upkeep Cost reduced to and . This makes Undead Normal armies extremely cheap to maintain. A Fantastic Unit will have its Upkeep Cost multiplied by . Fantastic Unit An Undead unit is considered a Fantastic Unit for most purposes, making it immune to a wide variety of spells and effects that can only target Normal Units. On the other hand, a Fantastic Unit can be affected by certain other spells that cannot target Normal Units. Death Unit A reanimated unit becomes permanently associated with the realm. This association allows the unit to enjoy benefits of certain spells, but also makes it vulnerable to a variety of other spells and effects. The following spells have special effects on units: * Darkness, Cloud of Shadow and Eternal Night will grant Undead units +1 to all of , as well as a (normally hidden) +1 to the damage of Gaze Attacks. * True Light and Heavenly Light will give Undead units -1 to all of , as well as a (normally hidden) -1 to the damage of Gaze Attacks. The -1 penalty will cause all gaze attacks other than that of a Chaos Spawn to fail automatically. * Star Fires and Dispel Evil can target the unit. Undead units, specifically, resist Dispel Evil at a whopping . * Units with Bless receive against attacks made by units. * Holy Word applies a penalty to units, instead of the normal . * The Angel's Dispel Evil ability may harm the unit. Undead units, specifically, resist this ability at a whopping . Furthermore, if a Fantastic Unit with the Caster ability becomes Undead, it will now be able to cast spells from the realm instead of its original realm. This does not affect Heroes. Inability to Gain Experience Undead units do not gain experience over time, nor from winning battles. However they will retain the Experience Level (and all associated bonuses) that they had at the time when they were reanimated. Nonetheless, the Armsmaster ability still affects them (this is probably a bug). Unhealing An Undead unit no longer heals naturally from turn to turn, like other units do. Furthermore, it cannot be healed by any spell or abilities other than Life Steal and Regeneration. This makes it much more difficult to maintain an Undead army over consecutive battles, and requires replacing units altogether as they are "worn out". The ability of Regeneration to heal Undead units and/or restore them after destruction makes this spell/ability extremely potent when combined with Undead units. Thus, Trolls make the ideal Undead servants. Poison Immunity An Undead unit receives Poison Immunity, which means that it cannot be hurt by Poison Damage from any source. It will automatically succeed in any roll required to avert such damage. Illusions Immunity An Undead unit receives Illusions Immunity, which provides the following benefits: * Illusion Damage inflicted on this unit does not bypass its armor. The unit gets to make its rolls as normal. * During combat, this unit will spot all enemy Invisible creatures regardless of how close they are. Those creatures become semi-visible on the screen, and may be targeted freely like any other unit. * This unit is completely immune to many Curses from the realm. It either may not be targeted by such curses at all, or is simply not affected by them. Cold Immunity An Undead unit receives Cold Immunity, which means that it cannot be affected by any spell or ability that delivers Cold Damage. It will simply not receive any from such sources. Death Immunity An Undead unit receives Death Immunity, which means that it cannot be affected by any spell or ability that causes death or fear, including most of the combat spells from the . Ways of Creating Undead There are multiple methods of creating undead, all of which have the same effects on the final unit created: Create Undead Damage Points Any damage dealt by units with the Create Undead, as well as any damage dealt by the Life Steal ability, the Vampiric Item Power, or the Life Drain spell, is considered to be Create Undead damage. If at least half of the Damage Points which killed a unit were Create Undead, the other side won the battle, and the other side has space in its army for an additional unit, the unit will be reanimated after the battle, serving the enemy. Note that, for units with Life Steal, only the damage from Life Steal counts, and thus Death Knights, Demon Lords, and Heroes will usually not create undead. Combat summons, units with Death Immunity or Magic Immunity, and Heroes cannot be made undead in this way. Animate Dead The Animate Dead spell allows restoring a unit that died in the current battle as an undead unit. If owned by the opposing wizard, it will be destroyed at the end of the battle; otherwise it will continue in your army, as a normal Undead unit. Combat summons, units with Death Immunity or Magic Immunity, and Heroes cannot be made undead in this way. Black Channels The Black Channels spell, in addition to its other effects, turns its target Undead. Fantastic Units can only be affected by this spell if they are already Undead. This is the only way in which a Hero can become Undead. Known Bugs According to its ingame description (and the article above), the Undead trait is supposed to grant a unit 4 distinctive immunities. However, in the official game, only Death Immunity is actually applied. It may seem that this is not the case because does also grant the other 3, but only as long as it is in effect. The Unofficial Patch 1.50 fixes this issue (W144FIX.TXT). Category:Unit Attributes